New Ulm weekly review., 1887-10-05
WAR MAKESHIFTS.

pS OI southern CiCy feOple IN tno WOODS.
. A lady at Biloxi, Miss, writes to he
Atlanta Constitution, an account Of
the hardships and makeshifrs OF her
family, which had been reared in afflu-
ence:
Upon the fall of New Orleans We
"refugeed' about fifty miles above the
city on the Jackson railroad, as it was
then called. The country around us
was very thinly settled, the people
generally poor, ignorant and primi-s
tive, and seemed as strange to us as
we "city folks" did to them. Oh, those
strange, dark years OF war times"
they linger yet in my memory like
:. some weird, vivid dream. Part OF the
time my father was with us and part
of it in the army, but his presence or
absence made little real difference in
our condition. he being a delicate, city
bred man was almost as helpless in
that beating storm,of hardships and
deprivations as my young, inexperi-
enced mother and her brood of young
children. And as the years went by,
and the war cloud settled down dark
er and deeper over all the land and
times grew harder and harder every
where, l told all the hardships and
struggles of those days I fear some of
it would bs taken for Munchansonlike
exaggeration.
It was a lonely, deserted, resource
less country, with hardly a man left in
it, and how some of those families of
women and children managed to live
at all is mystery to me. I think we
came as near living OF nothing as NOR
tails ever did, though my mother and
q young sister of hers VINO lived with
us, had their share Of that hard and
brave struggle for which our southern
women are SO rightfully honored
throughout the length and bredth of
the land. Every ar ticle OF beauty or
4 value that had escaped the fire was
sold or traded for the necessaries OF
life. One OF nay brothers, a, little fel-
low about twelve years old, walked to
SClinton, La, about fifty miles be-
8lleve, carrying in his arms handsome
guitar OF my mothers, which was sold
to an officer of the garrison there, who
also bought from her pair of huge
silver mounted, dueling pistols, heir
looms, which we children saw go with
extreme regret, as they were objects
/ OF our lifelong awe and admiration,
though we grew accustomed to seeing
many other objects OF value depart
in the same way. In fact, we sold
4 everything that any one could be in
duced to buy. We had a large tin
bath tub, round, and painted green,
and a. well-to-do farmer having ex-
pressed a desire to Duy it for the tin,
the little boys were promptly dis
patched with it, and my aunt went
along to make the bargain. The pre-
sumptive purchaserliv lived Two or three
miles distant, and the boys rolled the
tub there like a hoop. Upon closer
inspection he decided that it would
not do FOR what he wanted,
and SO they had to roll it back
again-a labor not accomplished with
out considerable loss of temper and
green paint. They afterwards related
that they had met nice looking
young gentleman on the road-a rara
arls In those regions-and that Aunt
c., In consequence of q decided lack OF
style IN her costume, had hidden uD-
der the bath tub until he was out of
sight; but this latter statement she
always denied.
My mother ard aunt grew very pro-
1icient ita making palmetto hats, and
sold agreat many, nay two little broth
ers carrying them to the nearest
town, which WAS ten miles distant.
remember once when a lot of hats
were ready they rose early that morn
ing and found the ground covered with
snoW-the only snow / ever saw in
Louisiana-but they insisted upon 90
ing, and shoulderins Their bag of hats
started out cheertully on their twenty
mile walk, thinly clad and without
shoes. On q, their return that
night they found they had left their
little dog in town, and the
next morning one OF the boys went
back alone over the long. lonely road,
found the Dig and returned the same
day. AS for clothes, when I think OF
some OF our costumes of those days, /
realize how the ingenuity of the
mother must have been taxed merely
to cover her large flock. / we'll re
member a dress she made out OF a
window curtain. It had bright
flowers on it as large asdessert plates,
and Twas as proud as a peacock OF
that snowy garment. Once a couple
OF mattresses, ruthlessly sacrificed to
the deeds OF the home, furnished a
suit around for the boys shirt and
pants, somewhat scant in material
and suggestive in devine, bat highly ap-
precaated by the vearezs ia spite OF
frequent illusions to the penitentia-
ry.
Sheets, tablecloths, window cur.
tains and bedspreads. all were trans.
formed into clothing, but there is an
end to all things, and the last
resource remember in that line
was lot of osnaburg meal
bags. obtained no doubt, by